Human rights activists and Xinjiang Uighurs demonstrated in front of the British Foreign Office on the 13th.

(AFP)

[Compilation of Yang Fuyi/Taipei Report] China’s persecution of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang is tantamount to genocide, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Government Erken.

Erkin Tuniyaz was originally scheduled to visit Europe starting today (13th), including London, Paris and Brussels. Unexpectedly, it triggered strong protests from members of the British Parliament, members of the European Parliament, and human rights organizations, demanding that he be brought to justice; EU statement Sources confirmed that Tuniyazi has canceled plans to visit Europe.

As the "second-in-command" deputy secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, Tuniyazi has been sanctioned by the US government in 2021, mainly because he engaged in "serious human rights abuses".

Human rights groups accuse Tuniyazi of helping to expand Xinjiang's concentration camp-like detention facilities, assisting in the suppression of Uyghurs and ethnic minorities, and defending Beijing's local "preventive counter-terrorism" measures and "de-radicalization" policies in Xinjiang.

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At least 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Turkic-speaking groups are being held in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang.

The United States believes that China's mass detention, forced labor, and forced sterilization of ethnic minority women such as Uyghurs in Xinjiang are tantamount to genocide.

The British Parliament also passed a motion in 2021 equating China's policies in the Xinjiang region to genocide.

The European Parliament adopts a resolution in 2022 calling assimilation actions a "serious risk of genocide".

Both Britain and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials in Xinjiang, but not Tuniyazi.

Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" reported on the 14th that the EU spokesperson also confirmed that he had been notified that Tuniyazi had postponed his trip to Europe; the Chinese mission to the EU said that Tuniyazi was in Brussels "due to the itinerary". Briefings to the media and academics have been "postponed".

The political news website "POLITICO" reported earlier that Tuniyazi's cancellation of the European trip was due to widespread concerns among European parliamentarians and human rights activists that the Chinese government's extreme measures against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region have constituted what the United Nations calls " Crimes against humanity”, the EU has welcomed the senior Chinese officials in charge of the region.

The report pointed out that the news of the cancellation of Tuniyazi's trip has been conveyed to the guests in Brussels and Paris who were originally invited to participate in the reception event; the relevant event was co-hosted by Chinese diplomats in Belgium and France, and it is still unclear whether he will still go to London.

The British Guardian and POLITICO recently reported that Tuniyazi is expected to visit London on the 13th, followed by Paris and Brussels.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm Tuniyazi's visit plan. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin avoided answering media inquiries on the 14th, saying that he "does not have specific information about the visit of the person in charge of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region."

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that British human rights activists protested to the British Foreign Office on the 13th. Helena Kennedy, member of the British House of Lords and a member of the Labor Party, and Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the British Conservative Party and member of the House of Commons Both appeared in support of the demonstrators and urged British Prime Minister Sunak's government to immediately arrest Tunyazi and prosecute him for what the United Nations report called "crimes against human rights".

Kennedy said that there have been countless satellite and aerial photos in the past, which have confirmed the real existence of Xinjiang concentration camps, where at least one million people were imprisoned. There is also sufficient evidence and research to prove that there are problems such as forced labor in the camps, and questioned why the British government can allow participation in them Officials from Xinjiang visit the UK.

Smith urged the British government to sanction Tuniyazi, "It is impossible for us to talk to murderers. Our government should not go beyond this line, it is not negotiable. Tell China to stop their oppression and put the rights and fundamentals of the people of Xinjiang and Uyghurs Return human rights and freedom to them. This cannot be discussed, we should break off diplomatic relations with them".

Minutes before the expiration of her four-year term on August 31 last year, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, released a report on human rights in Xinjiang, detailing a series of actions by the Chinese government to persecute the human rights of Muslim minority Uyghurs, which may constitute a "endanger crimes against humanity", urging the world to "urgently pay attention" to the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.